To build or not to build

While the country parks have indeed functioned as the lungs of the city for the last 40 years as Talbot envisaged, the tourists descending on them in holiday season by the droves are messing up the environment. In 2015 and 2016, the parks attracted more than 13.3 million visitors, leaving 3,600 metric tons of garbage, according to AFCD. And, apart from that, only 342,600 people took part in the AFCD's educational programs, mostly tours to nature conservation centers inside the parks and exhibitions in downtown areas.

In recent years, the parks have become a battleground between conservationists and the government. Talbot seemed to have foreseen it all. The 1965 report says the government might have to put up with considerable economic and political pressure to open the potential park areas to make way for housing.

The debates intensified in May this year when the SAR government invited the Hong Kong Housing Society to assess the development potential of over 40 hectares of protected country park land in Tai Lam and Ma On Shan. Housing built on this vast area could potentially accommodate at least 90,000 people.

Wong believes building on parkland won't be necessary as the buffer zones between parks and residential areas alone, covering some 30 percent of the city's land, could help meet the housing needs of a large section of people.